


Steve and the Dragon

by Perlmutt



Series: SteveTonyTober 2020 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, Falling In Love, Fantasy, Fluff, Getting Together, Historical, Legends, M/M, Magic, Romance, Shapeshifting, SteveTonyTober2020, Tributes, dragon!Tony, myths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26918014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perlmutt/pseuds/Perlmutt
Summary: In the era where deities and spirits wander around, Steve, a simple human, is chosen to be given to the large dragon that lives in the shrine in the mountains as a tribute payment. But the dragon is nothing like Steve expects...
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: SteveTonyTober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954639
Comments: 14
Kudos: 132





	Steve and the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> SteveTonyTober 2020  
> Day 9: Tribute
> 
> (Inspired by the Manga "Mauri to Ryuu")
> 
> I'm not sure if this fits the prompt but I wanted to write something like this since forever!!
> 
> Not beta'ed, english is not my mother language therefore I apologize in advance for any typos or spelling errors!

Eight weeks had passed since Steve had been sent to the shrine in the mountains as a tribute payment and faced the fire spirit that lived up there. By now he'd grown accustomed to living in the forests where it was quiet and desolate. Overcoming the shock of having been chosen by the deity and being sent away from his home to presumedly be devoured by the spirit had come at the cost of more than just a few sleepless nights alone in the shrine, until the giant dragon had taken pity on him. It had laid down behind Steve and its warm breath and surprisingly soft underbelly had Steve falling asleep within minutes.

Contrary to the myths, the creature was fairly kind-hearted and not at all a blood-thirsty beast, that did feed on the people that were being sent to it over the last centuries, since it had settled in the mountains that surrounded Steve's small village.

Steve learned that the dragon was an ancient fire spirit, that used to travel the world until it was injured by humans. Ever since that incident it kept itself hidden in the mountains, and the tribute it demanded in exchange for protection and fertile rain and soil was neither lunch nor dinner to it. The dragon was lonely.

A creature as terrifying as it was awe-inspiring was terribly lonely. Steve felt the dark words of the dragon echo through his body whenever it spoke with a deep and also smooth voice. Most nights had the two of them sit outside under the starry sky next to a small fire and a simple meal of some of the offerings the villagers brought to the shrine. The dragon would tell Steve stories of the things it had seen in his long life, stories so fanciful that Steve sometimes wondered it they were true at all. He would gently lean his body against the dragon's warm flank until he would fall asleep to the sound of its voice and soft breathing, trusting the creature to protect him from the dangers of the night's demons.

Sometimes the dragon would take him flying. Steve felt tiny when he tried to climb the huge and scaly back to sit between its wings, even though he was no longer the scrawny boy he used to be but a strong man. Never before had he felt as free as when he saw the world from above. Their reflection on the surface of the nearby lake took Steve's breath away for a moment.

The dragon was enormous, almost as big as a house, its scales were a crimson red, like fresh blood, which glistened in the sun like pure gold. The only color that disturbed the picture of incarnated fire was the glowing blue stone in the chest of the dragon. One day, it had confided in Steve and told him the story of how it had been injured. Steve had been furious at hearing of such cruelty and malice. The dragon's honey colored eyes had been deep with grief when it told Steve that it had lost the last of its kind in that attack, its oldest friends, a copper colored male with eyes as dark as the starless night and a female with scales as blue as the sky.

Steve returned the gesture and told the dragon how he'd lost not only his parents when he'd been a child, but also how he'd dug an empty grave for his best friend who'd never returned from a war that had not been his. It was that night that Steve had felt the single tear of the creature on his skin while he'd held its scaly face in his arms. It was also that night that he realized that while he had been forced to leave his birthplace, he'd found a home in the mountains and a familiar in the fire spirit.

One day when the sun rose, Steve woke up not to the dragon's muzzle in his lap, but a very human head with dark hair. Whoever the strange man was, he was naked and sleeping. Steve jumped up surprised and the stranger woke, being jostled by the movement. The man held his head as if in pain, before he looked up to find Steve staring at him.

He was handsome, Steve noted. His features where even, his body toned, and his facial hair looked kind of complicated. A pair of honey colored eyes looked at Steve and if that wasn't enough of a hint, then the crystal blue light in the chest of the man was. The human watched as the foreigner slowly stood up and came up to him with unsteady steps.

“Steve…?”

That was the voice. The dragon's voice came from the throat of the foreign man. But that wasn't just any man, if he was a man at all.

“Is that really you?” Steve asked and backed away until he was standing with his back to the wall inside the shrine. He closely watched every move the other made.

“It's me!” The man promised and touched his own face and his torso as if he couldn't believe what he was feeling. A grin split his face. “I'm human!”

“The dragon?” Steve came carefully closer, but those eyes definitely belonged to the fire spirit he'd come to trust and secretly love. “What happened to you? Why are you suddenly human?”

The dragon reached him, still fully naked but not bothered by it as it seemed. He looked up into Steve's blue eyes that almost had the same color as the mystic stone in his chest. “It's an ancient legend. I never thought there was a possibility it was true, this has never happened before… It says when a deity finds a human that can love them with all of their heart for who they truly are, then the universe grants the deity the ability to shift back and forth, so they are able to be with their beloved.”

Steve felt a fire in his chest. Did this mean…? “You- you wish to be with me?”, he breathed and gently took of one the dragon's hands. The skin underneath his fingers was definitely human and Steve's fingers tingled when he touched the other.

“There is nothing I wished for more than to be with you, every time the stars over our heads were shining.” The dragon was lovingly carding his fingers through Steve's blonde hair and Steve openly welcomed him into his embrace. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, that were meant to be together from the start. “Call me Tony.”

“Tony...” The name was like a spell and Steve bent down to welcome the dragon's kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! I'd love to know what you think of this! ♡


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